Saturday, October 22, 2016

The Prairies have delivered much for Canada through the decades since 1867, a wealth of natural resources, bountiful harvests, a strong work ethic that puts the city slickers in the larger communities to shame and of course an endless supply of young hockey players all looking for their chance to make it to the NHL.

They are celebrating the Heritage of Canada's national sport in the heartland of the country this weekend, with Winnipeg the focus point for this years celebration of hockey and it's roots, the Heritage Classic.

The weekend started with a Friday evening gala filled with tales of the past from both the visiting Edmonton Oilers and their dynasty for the ages, as well as the home town Winnipeg Jets.

A team built with a blue print taken from the people they have represented through the WHA days and into their modern era of the NHL. Focused on a dedication to the need for hard work and sacrifice, before expecting any rewards.

Jets fans have made their sacrifices and are ready for some of that reward and for many, the arrival of such a high profile showcase as the Heritage Classic is an nod from the league as to the respect that Manitoba pays to the history of the game.

Friday's reminiscing turned to the outdoor rink at Investor's Group Stadium, as the Oilers Alumni and Jets Alumni faced off in the Saturday afternoon alumni match up.

A game that brought many of the familiar names of the past back for skate on the rink built on the expanse of the football field normally put to use by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers or University of Manitoba Bisons.

In its way a symbol of some of the pond hockey of many memories, though with slightly warmer temperatures than say a crisp January afternoon might have delivered.

During the course of the Saturday broadcast, it was noted with some awe the importance that the many community rinks in the city have for the region. With many an NHL dream created on any given Winnipeg evening, under the bright lights and not far from a hot stove.

Most of the names of yesteryear were there Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, a young whippersnapper named Ryan Smyth for the Oilers; Dave Babych, Ed Olcyk and Dale Hawerchuk for the Jets, the appreciation from the crowd ringing in the ears of each and everyone of the players as they took their place on the ice.

The hockey was what might expected at such events, a leisurely skate on the ice with occasional flashes of what once would bring fans to their feet, the game ending on a penalty shot with the Finnish Flash Teemu Selanne sending the crowd of 31,000 plus home with the desired good vibe of a victory over the Oilers. Reversing the narrative of the past of a team, when the Edmontonians would dash the hopes of River City hockey fans on more than a few occasions in the halcyon days of the Oilers/Jets battles.

Attention now turns to Sunday's showdown between the current Jets and an Oilers squad that for many, is starting to remind hockey fans of a similar collection of youngsters from the eighties whe were ready to make their mark on the NHL.

Though if we're looking for an omen for how Sunday's game might end, look no further than the newest exciting import from Finland.

With the legend Teemu Selanne settling up Saturday's Alumni showcase, surely Patrick Laine will be the name that Jets fans will be cheering when the Sunday Classic comes to an end.

Investors Group Field in Winnipeg is the host venue for this yearsHeritage Classic between the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers
(Photo from NHL website)

Friday, October 14, 2016

So honestly after watching the Austin Matthews debut, just one thing needs to be said his performance on the night.

Now true, while at the end of the sixty minutes and a bit of OT for the 2016-17 debut for the Leafs and Senators the scoreline was Senators 5, Matthews 4, remainder of Leafs 0, the hype surrounding the young Arizonan making his regular season debut seems rather justified.

The young phenom from Scottsdale, Arizona had a fine night of skating on the ice surface at the Canadian Tire Centre, dazzling the Ottawa fans and undressing the Ottawa defenders as he provided for a performance to launch the new season for the NHL.

Bringing to the ice a performance that guaranteed top line exposure on all of the nightly sports highlights shows, even ESPN, which for the most part in the past has placed the NHL's scoring crawl in the same line up as Cricket Test matches from Fiji.

Matthews' rewarded the Leafs confidence of Draft Day in June, picking up his first NHL goal at 8:21 of the first period, followed by his second just six minutes later. With a short break between periods, possibly to check his twitter feed and instagram account, he came back out and became the thing of nightmares for Senators goaltender Craig Anderson.

With Matthews scoring just after the one minute mark of period number two, collecting his fourth and final goal on the evening with but three seconds remaining in the middle period, a full night of hockey already accomplished with just forty minutes of play out of the way.

With a modern day NHL record in Matthews pocket, that of four goals in his first game, the Maple Leafs night on score sheet would come to an end, as the Senators finally found a way to not only shut down the highly touted addition to the Leafs lineup, but to turn the game around and claim the win in Overtime.

Perhaps a perfect outcome for hockey fans in the Nations' capital who can say they were there when Matthews' collected the first of what appear to be many records that may soon claim his name, while at the same time having seen the home side squad show some grit and take their first victory of the season.

The scoring exploits became one of the trending topics on twitter for part of the evening and no doubt set Leafs' fans hearts to racing at the prospect of a home game schedule that suggests offence may soon be back in the blue print for Maple Leaf hockey.

The only person perhaps that was happier than Maple Leafs fans on Wednesday night was League Commissioner Gary Bettman, it was like winning your Fantasy Hockey Draft on the first night of play.

Bettman has a top level American star, playing for one of the most iconic franchises in the league, one based in Canada, in the home of the top television market for the NHL, a guarantee that the launch of the legend of Auston is going to get maximum exposure.

As an added chance for a short victory lap, the newest star for the NHL hails not from a snowbound town in the hockey belt, but from that newly charted territory of Arizona. A market that Bettman has done all that he could to keep alive and with the ascent of Matthews to the NHL galaxy he no doubt make for at least a short term salute to building footprints across the continent.

At some point the Commish might prefer to see young Mr. Matthews on a US based team in one of the large media markets of the lower 48, but for now the spotlight is Toronto and Matthews it seems is going to fit in just nicely.

Sometimes you just have a great day and Wednesday was that for Matthews, Bettman, the Leafs and hockey fans as well.

The Reviews quickly came in following Matthew's debut and for fans of the Leafs, the omens would appear to indicate that alls is going to be fine.

The Edmonton Oilers are Connor McDavid's team now, though in reality they've been his team since the day the Oilers announced his name at the draft table. Yesterday's announcement awarding McDavid the Oilers C, just reinforced the new foundation for Oiler hockey that will build on the enthusiasm and pure skill that the young player brings to the game.

The Oiler's Centre joins some legendary names that have been selected to lead from the very first Oiler in Al Hamilton, through the Stanley Cup winning ones of Gretzky and Messier and through some names that roll through the Oiler's hockey history books.

The new face of the franchise joins a list of players who bled Orange and Blue through the good years and the not so successful ones, forces that willed remarkable victories at times and suffered the hardest of losses at others.

Beyond Northern Alberta, McDavid can review some recent hockey history for role models for his journey into leadership, Sidney Crosby and Jonathon Toews from the new generation, Steve Yzerman from Stanley Cup champs of the past all were handed the title and rewarded that confidence impressively.

Others that also were tapped early in their careers include Brian Bellows, Gabriel Landeskog, Vincent Lecavalier and Jim Schoenfeld.

As we discovered from the recent World Cup of Hockey, McDavid even at 19, has a presence on the ice that speaks volumes. Team mates gravitate to him and feed off of his passion, while line mates of course benefit from his skills on the ice.

But as the decision making process was outlined on Wednesday it's what we don't see off the ice that made the Oilers realize that the future would be secure in the hands of the young talent out of Richmond Hill, Ontario.

Here's what the Oilers think of the new holder of the Burn't Orange C ...

The 2016-17 season is one which is highly anticipated by Oiler fans and one that fans in other cities will be watching with quite a bit of interest.

From the celebrations that will come with a new rink and an expectation that the learning curve is over for young but enthusiastic squad, there is very much a feeling that it's time for results now and that this season will be the year where the challenges of the last few years will finally be forgotten.

That may be a pressure situation for some, but having watched Connor McDavid tackle high pressure situations over the last couple of years, one suspects that he's up to the challenge and that its just one more step on the return of the Oilers to levels once thought far away.